By Staff Reporter
Water problems will now be history in Nkhatabay South Constituency following the announcement by Northern Region Water Board to bring piped water in the constituency.
This follows an announcement made by the Malawi government through an advert in which it seeks to engage a successful bidder to upgrade and expand the water system to a 22.5 kilometer stretch from Chintheche treatment area to Kande.
The initiative comes as a positive outcome from the Chakwera led administration after the member of Parliament from the area Dr Kenneth Zikhale Ng’oma relentlessly stood in parliament demanding for the same while decrying inequalities in the potable water distribution which has for decades only benefitted people of Nkhatabay South East Constituency and other areas in the lakeshore district.
Speaking in an interview , Dr. Zikhale Ng’oma did not mince words but to express his happiness while thanking the Chakwera government for finally responding to the water challenges which people from his area never dreamed of being addressed any time soon.
“I am very grateful to the government under the Chakwera administration that the people of my area will finally have portable water. When you are a member of Parliament standing for your people in that house, when things are not done according to your request even the people whom you are representing lose hope and cast doubt if that government and its member has interest on the citizenry,” said Zikhale.
Zikhale noted with happiness that his intervention on the water crisis through parliamentary deliberations has finally paid dividends.
He further added: ” the coming of this project will now reduce burden of portable water crisis in my area. I will now concentrate on other areas of need such as bringing electricity in all business centers in my constituency among which some of them have already been approved pending the solar electrical installer to commence the project very soon.”
Lack of portable water has been one of the biggest challenges hitting hard Nkhatabay South Constituency. In the past years , water crisis saw the indefinite closure of Kande and Tukombo Health centres as the two life saving facilities could not operate without water.
Once identified the contractor will install a 5.1 kilometer long and DN 250 DI pumping main from existing WTP to a 5000 m³ Malaza elevated tank where pipelines of diameter 63 mm, 110mm and 160mm will extend to a 22.5 kilometer stretch to Kande and surrounding areas who will benefit from the construction of 10 new kiosks.
The project is expected to run for a period of 10 months and will have a liability of 12 months thereafter.
Meanwhile, councilor for Mbamba ward Esau Chinyimba, has hailed government while adding that people of the area voted for a listening government which has finally come to their rescue.
Chinyimba noted that lack of portable water has been negatively impacting lives of the people and major developments in the area observing that access to portable water is a human right!
“This is a very great news and my people and I are very happy and grateful. This truly manifests that they voted for a listening government which has considered to address the water crisis” he said.
But Chinyimba pleaded for the full realization of the project as it has been the case with previous government where such projects could be only launched and suffer from natural death.
Nkhatabay south constituency has never had a Malawi Congress Party (MCP) legislator after Kamuzu lost power to Dr Bakili Muluzi and Dr Kenneth Zikhale Ng’oma being the first legislator under the MCP has championed all his predecessors who were elected on United Democratic Front (UDF), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Alliance for Democracy (Afford) but failed to defeat the persisting portable water problem in Nkhatabay south constituency.
Since the birth of Malawi the then Nyasaland, people from this area have never had access to piped water
